* SERMON II.

THE CHURCH THE FULNESS OF CHRIST.

EPHESIANS I. 22, 23.-Head over all things to the Church which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.

THE sacred Scriptures suffer great injustice from the prevailing use of isolated texts. No other book has ever been exposed to such unfairness. No other would be expected to endure it. And yet, to what other, whether the source, the subjects, or the composition be regarded, could its application be so dangerous? It was not so at the beginning. Neither St. Peter nor St. Paul dealt so with the old Scriptures. The earliest preachers were expositors of Holy Writ, and not declaimers from mere insulated words. Like the Apostle, in his Roman lodgings, "they expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the Law of Moses, and out of the Proph

At the consecration of the Parish Church, Leeds, Sept. 2, A. D. 1841. Dedicated "to the Most Reverend, the Lord Archbishop of York, and to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Ripon, this Sermon, preached by permission of the latter, and printed at the desire of the former, is now inscribed, as the memorial of an occasion of catholic intercommunion, which has gladdened many hearts, as the new dawning of a brighter day; and also in grateful acknowledgment of personal kindness, by their most affectionate and faithful brother in Christ, George Washington Doane, Bishop of New Jersey."

ets; "* even as the Divine Instructor, walking with the two disciples, on the evening of the day on which He rose, "beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."+ This was a natural and practical proceeding. "The truth as it is in Jesus" was set forth thus in due connection. The analogy of faith preserved its just proportion. The word of God was rightly divided; and every one received his portion in his season. Upon the use of isolated texts has grown the reception of isolated doctrines. Men lay the sacred platform out in triangles and parallelograms, and take their stand on this or that, as taste or fancy shall direct. That sentence of St. Paul, "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable," comes to be lightly regarded. Men have their favourite writers, and their favourite books of Scripture. One claims to hold with one, the other with another, of the Apostles. With one school, this is the great doctrine; that, with another. One is extolled, as fundamental. Others dwindle into non-essentials. A single truth is set up as the test of a standing or a falling church: while integral portions of the same "faith, once delivered to the saints," serve but to breed suspicion of their advocates; and bring, on those who dare not separate "what God has joined together," the name of bigots and of formalists.

It was not so that the Apostle had learned Christ, or that he taught and preached Him. Take as an il

*Acts xxviii. 23.

St. Luke xxiv. 27.

2 Timothy iii. 16.

lustration the passage whence the text is drawn. Observe how carefully he knits together in one the gracious truths which, in the Gospel, are revealed. So perfect the intermixture of the whole, that you know not where to begin, or where to leave off. So accurate the adjustment of the parts, that the omission of any one destroys the harmony of the whole. The text and context so complete in their connection, that they involve the sum and substance of all Christian teaching. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"-it is so that the majestic strain begins-"who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," "in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." Quickening you, he afterwards explains, but, in the same connection, "who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked," "fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as others," "according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:" "that" so, "in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him." Nor does he leave the subject, even with this full and graphic outline: man's dire necessity, as "dead in trespasses and sins," and so the child and heir of everlasting wrath; the riches of God's mercy, "for His great love wherewith He loved us," accepting us in His be

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loved Son, " in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins;" its due and dutiful results, "that we should be holy, and without blame before Him in love;" its great and gracious end, "that, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ." He dwells on it, enamoured of its beauty. He presents it in new forms. He groups its elements in new combinations. He insists again and again on our helplessness; and again and again admonishes us that all is of grace: "by grace ye are saved;" "by grace ye are saved through faith;" "according to the riches of His grace; exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who be lieve." He mounts up into heaven with Christ, whom God, for His self-sacrificing love, raised from the dead, and set "at His own right hand, in heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under His feet." And then, the crowning glory of the whole, he adds, and so concludes his glowing argument," and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

These words, presented thus in their connection, declare, as isolated passage never could, the functions of the Church in carrying on that greatest work of God, salvation through the Cross of Jesus Christ, to its entire completion. They teach us how, from first to last, in all the stages of its progress, He has wrought, works,

*

and still will work, by means. In His most gracious purposes, the Lamb of God, St. John informs us, was slain from the foundation of the world; that so, even to the first transgressors, the Bruiser of the serpent's head might mercifully be revealed. When the full time had come, the meek and holy Sufferer hung in bleeding agony upon the Cross, making atonement, in His suffering human nature, for all the sins of all mankind. And till the world shall end, and He who suffered then shall come again to reign for ever, it is in and through His body-that Church which He has purchased with His blood, to which He in heaven is "head over all things," which is "the fulness" even "of Him that filleth all in all "—that pardon, sanctification, and salvation are proclaimed and offered; and must be sought and found by all who are to reign with Him when He cometh in His glorious kingdom. It is in Him that "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." It is, we are expressly taught, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth." Hath He "quickened us together with Christ," "when we were dead in sins?" The assurance of the very next words is, " (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Is "the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe" to be proclaimed? The Apostle

*Revelation iii. 8.